wolfgang ziegler

Digispark, Neopixels, 3D Printing and LEGO

A while ago, somewhere on the internet, I came across the Digispark hardware. It's a coin-sized USB development board, based on an ATtiny85 processor and can be programmed using the Arduino IDE.

I (have to admit that I) immediately picked up a couple of cheap Chinese clones (5 pieces for about 10$) and I must say that I am really impressed by their potential.

Arduino IDE

At first, uploading sketches to the Digispark can be a bit cumbersome and tedious, but you get used to it and here is what worked best for me (on Ubuntu 16.04):

Get the correct board programmer for the Arduino IDE. I had to add this URL http://digistump.com/package_digistump_index.json to the IDE's Board Manager preferences.
Then you can download the Digispark board progammers. They show up like this in my environment:

Do not use USB hubs or USB extension cables when trying to upload a sketch. Communication between the board and the IDE was most stable when I plugged the board directly to my PC.

The order of the next steps is critical:

Unplug your Digispark .

Hit Upload in the Arduino IDE.
Wait for a message like this to appear in the console:

Illuminated LEGO

Thinking where I could take it from there, I remembered a 3D printed XL LEGO figure I had sitting in a drawer. The original plan was to illuminate this figure using Neopixels and an Arduino Nano, but the Digispark seemed to be an even better fit.

So I put 1 LED inside the figure's head and 2 in its body, switching their colors randomly.